Kentucky Removes Prevailing Wage from Law

The new Right to Work law will give all Kentucky workers the right to choose whether or not they want to pay union dues. An employer cannot force an employee to pay dues as a condition of employment as Kentucky has fully repealed Prevailing Wage (PW) from law. The following will be written into Kentucky law:

“The legislative body of any city, county, consolidated local government, charter county government, or unified local government shall not have the authority to require any employer to pay to an employee a certain wage or fringe benefit other than as determined by the employer.”

Opinions on this law are divided as some are in favor where others feel that the law will tie them down to a lower pay rate. States that have this law have lower paychecks than states that do not have this law in place. These labor unions are weaker and have less bargaining power; however, union membership has increased in right-to-work states.

The repeal of the Prevailing Wage law will decrease construction costs but the passing of the Right to Work law will decrease the wages of construction workers. To learn more about what the Right to Work law entails or to find out how it may affect your company, visit AssuredPartners NL Construction.